The work was created when Sol León was seven months pregnant with their daughter, and acts as one of the main pillars of León & Lightfoot’s oeuvre. Surprising and earthly movements on Mexican mambo music show a continual search for the tension between satirical and classic moments.

“Sad Case“ is actually a rather happy case. The five white-faced, red-mouthed dancers in Lightfoot Leon’s creation twitch, curl, and swing cartoonishly to crooner tunes and Latin beats as they contort their faces into hyperbolic expressions. Their clownish faces and manic gestures are spicy and refreshing... It’s light. It’s fun.”

Goecke's new creation for NDT 2 begins with encounters in the studio between the choreographer and the dancers. Their meetings appear unimportant, yet simultaneously they are more important than anything else; young, naughty and evil, playful and punky. “Today, my feelings belong to the dancers, more than ever before”, says Goecke. A blink of the eye, a glance, a seemingly fleeting gesture. Just a moment or a story? What remains is a tear on an eyelash that is fanned away. How do we get closer? A butterfly that remains a second before it flies away. The sounds of Schubert and Schnittke… Then there are the rattling pants, its sound interfering with the music. Goecke: “The dancers understand me immediately. There is no limit, they want to be challenged.” They move fast, virtuoso, gesticulate in peculiar ways, unconscious yet self-assured, and - whether solo, in a pas de deux or larger group - they communicate in Goecke's language, as if they had never learned another. Darkness Spoken, without words.

In 1988, German Marco Goecke has completed his ballet education at the Munich Ballet Academy, and in 1995 he graduated at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Goecke worked together with the Berlin State Opera and the Theater Hagen. Since 2005, Goecke is resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet, between 2006 and 2011 with Scapino Ballet and since 2013 he is associate choreographer with NDT. In 2015, with his piece “Thin Skin” made for NDT 1, he was nominated for a Swan Award for ‘most impressive choreography’.

2001 was the last time we worked with the infinitesimal music of J.S.Bach. His influence for a period of our oeuvre was impactful, therefore it was a clear and conscious decision on our part to revisit him now in our journey. Nearly all of the pieces of Bach we have collected for this ballet are transcriptions or interpretations of his magnificent music. His source remaining intact, and yet altered, transformed. Transformation plays a crucial role in all our lives on many levels, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Our work remains abstract, yet what purer way to compare our choreographic duality to the concept of both manual instinct and intellectual thought transmuting to produce a third element made of both in part. A Symbiosis. We wanted that this work should be firmly about quality with these young and talented artists. To hopefully enable them to grow and change by returning to the roots, swimming with the cycles, reconnecting with nature where we will all encounter the source which is patiently waiting.

Sol León (Spain) and Paul Lightfoot (England) started creating as a duo for Nederlands Dans Theater in 1989. Since then they have created more than fifty pieces for the company. In 2002 they were appointed house choreographers for NDT. Together they have won prestigious awards, such as the Benois de la Danse and the Herald Archangel. Sol León joined NDT 2 after graduating from the National Ballet Academy of Madrid in 1987. Two years later she joined NDT 1 and danced masterpieces of Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek and Ohad Naharin. She continued to dance up until 2003, when she decided to fully devote herself to choreography. León became Artistic Advisor for NDT in 2012. Paul Lightfoot studied at the Royal Ballet School in London. In 1985 he joined NDT 2 and moved to NDT 1 two years later, where he danced until 2008. During his dancing career, Lightfoot started choreographing and together with Sol León he created many pieces for NDT. Lightfoot became NDT’s Artistic Director in 2011.

Nederlands Dans Theater originated in 1959, when 22 people broke free from the Nederlands Ballet. Impassioned by dance and the desire to move away from an omnipresent ballet style, the company took shape under the direction of Carel Birnie and Benjamin Harkarvthey. Steadily, they built a different modern dance repertoire. Fifty years later, NDT has become one of the leading dance companies in the world. A rich repertoire has been established with works from master choreographers Jiří Kylián and Hans van Manen, as well as from resident choreographers Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, associate choreographers Crystal Pite and Johan Inger and many other guest choreographers like Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato and William Forsythe. Through the years NDT has done pioneering work in contemporary dance. Works originally made for this company are still danced all over the world. Numerous dancers and choreographers that once started with the company have set up their own dance companies world-wide, spreading NDT’s influence spreads further and further. Under the artistic direction of Paul Lightfoot, NDT continues attracting full houses world-wide.

Nederlands Dans Theater 1

NDT 1was founded in 1959 and consist of 30 dancers. They vary in age from 23 to 42, each one of them excelling in their solo qualities. In this company, the dancers get the opportunity to further develop their artistic personalities on the highest possible level.

Nederlands Dans Theater 2

NDT 2 was founded in 1978 for young, upcoming talents with an astonishing technique and currently consists of sixteen dancers up to the age of 23. NDT II is a revolutionary breeding ground for young talent and dances repertoire of established choreographers and new creations by upcoming choreography talents.